A ribbon cutting celebration will be held on Friday, December 12^th at 10:30 a.m. with special guest, Mayor Mike Spano, among other city and restaurant officials.

The 8,334-square-foot restaurant will host more than 230 guests and will create approximately 170 new jobs for the surrounding community. The new restaurant building features the new Olive Garden logo and new elements inspired by the recent remodel design.

Earlier this year, Olive Garden unveiled the most significant menu evolution in the restaurant’s history, adding more than 20 new menu items that broaden the choice, variety and value it offers guests. Additionally, this restaurant will open featuring Olive Garden’s Culinary Tours of Italy limited time offer. Each Tour is inspired by Olive Garden’s chefs Flavio Tagliaferro and Paolo Lafata, and the regions of Italy where they grew up. Guests will be able to vote for which dish – the Northern or Southern Tour of Italy – is to be added to the Olive Garden menu.

Olive Garden’s Northern Tour of Italy plate.

Northern Tour of Italy:

o   Asiago Tortelloni with Meat Sauce has rich and decadent meat and cheese flavors

o   Chicken Lombardy is topped with smoked mozzarella and provolone cheeses, a creamy parmesan sauce and bacon

o   Fettucini with Creamy Parmesan Portobello Sauce features savory mushrooms, a classic northern Italian ingredient

Olive Garden’s Southern Tour of Italy plate.

Southern Tour of Italy:

o   Mezzaluna Marinara is filled with cheese and topped with homemade sauce

o   Spicy Pesto Shrimp is topped with a blend of Calabrian peppers, ripe tomatoes, basil and garlic

o   Bucatini with Spicy Tomato Bacon Sauce features a smoky flavor with crushed red pepper

Throughout the promotion, guests can vote for their preferred Tour by using #TeamNorth or #TeamSouth on Twitter or Instagram. Guests can also place votes by purchasing a Tour of Italy at the restaurant. The Tour with the most votes will be added to the Olive Garden menu. Guests who cast their vote will also be entered for a chance to win a trip to Italy. Follow the votes and learn more about the sweepstakes by visiting ItalianFanFavorite.com.

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LongHorn Steakhouse® exterior in Yonkers, NY.

YONKERS, NY – December 4, 2014 — The newest LongHorn Steakhouse^® will open its doors to the City of Yonkers and adjoining communities on Monday, December 8, 2014, at 11 a.m. Located at 9055 Xavier Drive, Yonkers, NY 10704, the restaurant will be led by Managing Partner Brett Bailey.

A ribbon cutting celebration will be held on Dec. 8 at 12:30 p.m., with special guest, Mayor Mike Spano, among city and restaurant officials.      

LongHorn Steakhouse® prides itself on its fresh, never frozen, expertly grilled and boldly seasoned steaks. The restaurant’s design is inspired by the American West and is reminiscent of a rancher’s home. Its interiors feature updated, contemporary artwork and sculptures of horses, western landscapes and sunsets complemented by warm tones, wood, stone and steel fixtures.

The 6,359-square-foot restaurant will seat more than 220 guests and will create approximately 80-100 new jobs for the surrounding community. With a goal to become America’s favorite steakhouse. LongHorn Steakhouse® currently operates more than 470 restaurants in 40 states.

The restaurant will open featuring LongHorn’s new winter Peak Season and Chef’s Showcase menus, as well as the new Turf and Surf limited time offer, and the Prime Time menu.

• 

  Winter Brie Salad.

  Winter Peak Season – LongHorn’s Peak Season menu changes four times a year and features fresh flavors of the season. This winter, guests can enjoy new items, like Bourbon Pecan Tart, Housemade Spicy Wings, Mushroom Bisque, Winter Brie Salad and Parmesan Mushroom Risotto.

• 

  Champagne Lobster Filet.

  Chef’s Showcase – The Chef’s Showcase menu celebrates LongHorn’s Executive Chefs’ culinary inspiration and creativity. This winter, it features a Champagne Lobster Filet and Bourbon Molasses Pork Tenderloin.

• Turf and Surf – This limited time offer will feature dishes such as LongHorn’s signature Flo’s Filet & Lobster Tail, Renegade Sirloin and Lobster Shrimp Mac & Cheese and the Champagne Lobster Filet from the Chef’s Showcase menu.

• Prime Time – The Prime Time menu features late afternoon specials at all LongHorn Steakhouse locations across the country, including a variety of $3, $4 and $5 drinks and appetizers. Prime Time is offered Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m., and features dishes like the Spicy Chicken Bites and Sweet Corn Fritters.

LongHorn Steakhouse® have an excellent variety of fresh, never frozen, steak cuts – like their famous bone-in Outlaw Ribeye® – that are hand seasoned, then expertly grilled by a Certified LongHorn Grill Master. Beyond steaks, they offer fresh grilled chicken, fresh Atlantic salmon marinated in ther homemade brown sugar bourbon sauce, and fall-off-the- bone baby back ribs that are slow roasted for four hours and basted in their homemade barbecue sauce. Entrées come with a hand-chopped salad, honey-wheat bread baked fresh every 20 minutes and with delicious side dishes like their Steakhouse Mac & Cheese.

They also give their guests a great reason to join them for lunch – offering more than 30 soup, salad and sandwich combinations that are hand-prepared and made to order starting at $7.99.

LongHorn Steakhouse® is owned by Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

The post LongHorn Steakhouse® Opens in Yonkers on Monday, December 8, 2014 @ 11 a.m. appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

The Dining Lab place setting.

The Dining Lab Garners Favorable Review In The New York Times

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, June 23, 2014 – Monroe College, a national leader in urban and international education, last week announced that its student-run restaurant in New Rochelle, The Dining Lab, received a favorable review in The New York Times by Westchester food critic Alice Gabriel, and was dubbed “the little kitchen that could.” Following are a few excerpts from the article, “Proving Their Chops in the ‘Real World”:

The Dining Lab celebrates the marriage of chicken and potatoes presented to please the eyes and whet every appetite.

Ms. Gabriel said: “The kitchen here is the little kitchen that could. Our guarded expectations were met with superior appetizers: a creamy risotto made with carnaroli rice, spring-onion purée and robiola cheese; orecchiette in a delicate marinara with fresh sage and the Dining Lab’s own sweet fennel sausage; and a brisk salad of campus-grown lettuces.”

She continued with a description of the restaurant’s tableside service and atmosphere: “The featured tableside preparation was a frittatina, a little molded omelet cooked in a round metal collar on a griddle. More engaging was the live music act that night: a lilting vocalist in a leopard-print blouse and blond wig who paid tribute to Rihanna and Adele, with the dean of the school himself on acoustic guitar (musicians sing for their supper on Thursday nights).”

On the restaurant’s entrees and desserts, Ms. Gabriel said: “My own entree of pan-seared striped bass and roasted fingerling potatoes was a picture of simplicity, and just delicious…we were delighted by a blueberry clafoutis with lemon verbena sorbet and a corkscrew wafer; almond-milk panna cotta with strawberry consommé; and assorted cookies. We took home a slice of sbrisolona, an almond cake that is a specialty of Mantua, Italy, a fine souvenir of a memorable adventure.”

This is the latest recognition for Monroe College’s School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts. Earlier this month, Monroe pastry instructor Ebow Dadzie – also a Pastry Chef at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan – was named among the top ten pastry chefs in the nation by Dessert Professional magazine; he was one of two New York pastry chefs to be included in the list, and the only culinary educator. In April of this year, Monroe College graduate James Daversa received a full-tuition scholarship to France’s Institut Paul Bocuse through a culinary competition hosted by world-renowned Chef Daniel Boulud. Additionally, the Dean of Monroe’s culinary arts school, Dr. Frank Costantino, was named Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation Long Island Chapter in 2013.

“Receiving a favorable review in The New York Times is in many ways equivalent to the Holy Grail of the restaurant industry, and we take great pride in the recognition our culinary arts student, staff and school continue to receive,” said Marc Jerome, Executive Vice President at Monroe College. “In less than six years since its founding, the school has garnered a significant number of awards and demonstrated its ability not only to compete at some of the most prestigious culinary competitions, but to finish in the top ranks.”

Since 2009, Monroe’s culinary arts program has received nearly 500 awards, including 15 gold and 10 silver medals at the last three NY state championships, as well as the coveted Marc Sarrazin trophy at the International Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Show in NYC in 2011 and 2013. Taught by a faculty of experienced industry professionals, many of whom are certified by the American Culinary Federation, students gain valuable instruction and mentoring in a real-world culinary environment. For more information, please visit here.

The Dining Lab at Monroe College offers a three-course gourmet dinner for a fixed price of $18.95. It is open to the public Tuesday through Thursday, with three seatings at 6:30pm, 7pm, and 7:15pm. Students in Monroe’s culinary and hospitality degree program prepare each item and are responsible for the restaurant’s daily operations. Reservations can be made by phone at 914-740-6421 or by email at info@thedininglab.com. The restaurant is located at 434 Main Street in New Rochelle.

Founded in 1933, New York-based Monroe College is a nationally ranked private institution of higher learning with a real world learning approach that prioritizes hands-on academic experiences, practical and relevant academic programs, flexible learning schedules, best-in-class instructional technologies, and committed and engaged faculty to ensure that students are well positioned for career success upon graduation. Monroe College graduates more minority students than any other college in New York State.

Monroe College offers Certificate, Associate, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degree programs. It has campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle, as well as in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia, with programs offered through its Schools of Criminal Justice, Information Technology, Nursing, Education, Business & Accounting, Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts, and Allied Health Professions, as well as through its liberal arts and continuing education programs, and its King Graduate School. For more information and admissions criteria, please visit www.monroecollege.edu

Editor’s Note: Hear Dr. Frank Costantino, Dean of Monroe’s culinary arts school, on Westchester On the Level with Narog and Aris on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 @ 11 a.m. Listen via the Internet:  http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOnTheLevel/ 

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From Strawberry to Parsnip Season – We’re Back!

The Hastings Farmer’s Market is BACK on a weekly schedule starting tomorrow, Saturday, June 7.

For the next 26 weeks, we hope you will carve out some time each Saturday to come support your local farmers, get some kitchen inspiration and, of course, visit with friends.

A few changes in our lineup: The folks at Grammy’s Garden in Warwick have officially retired; this time for good. They were retired teachers when they decided to go into the flower business, for years infusing our market with a weekly splash of color.

I am happy to report that Tiny Hearts Farm will be our new cut-flower vendor. Some of you may know them from the Irvington Farmer’s Market where they developed a huge following for their rustic and artful arrangements of local flowers and herbs.

Owners Luke Franco and Jenny Elliot recently moved their upstart farm in Westchester to the Copake Agriculture Center – a new farming commune of sorts, made possible by Northeast Farm Access (NEFA). This farm consulting organization, comprised of veteran community developers, loan underwriters, attorneys and farmers  helps to connect investors with farmers and farmers with land (and resources) from Maine to New York in the hope of preserving precious farmland.  The new Agriculture Center in Copake provides housing and long-term land leases to young farmers like Luke and Jenny – who can now see their flower fields from their kitchen window.

Ditto for Max Morningstar, an organic farmer from the Boston area, who jumped at the chance to be a part of this experiment in Columbia County.  Thanks to Luke and Jenny, Mx Morningstar Farms will also be joining us this summer bringing more no-spray produce to market from cauliflower to kohlrabi.

Also new this year, Obercreek Farm - from Hughsonville NY famous for their heirloom tomatoes and delicate green. Don’t forget to check out their really cool signage.

So between these new vendors and our returning favorites (Taliaferro, Neversink, D & J) there should never be a shortage of greens at the market, no matter what time you arrive.

Lenny Bee, our smoked trout vendor is back, as is Chatham Brewing Co. (bring your growlers). The Cookery’s Dough Nation pizza truck will be pulling in this Saturday and every other Saturday thereafter (alternating with the Brooklyn Bean burrito/slider vendor). Grenadine French Creperie is back, too.

They should go down nicely with the French ballads from Les Tappan Zigues slated for tomorrow.

A couple of notes:

In honor of the market’s opening day, the Library will be hosting a book sale on its front terrace. Check out the items for sale outside, but don’t miss the artwork on display inside – part of the Library’s auction of work by dozens of local of artists. You can place bids on the paintings, drawings, photos and sculptures, many that reflect views of the Hudson and our local waterfront.  The auction, to raise funds for an upcoming remodel, ends on Sunday evening, with a cocktail party from 5-8 pm; you can buy tickets at the book sale.

And, if your teenager plans on purchasing a boutonniere or a corsage for the prom, please consider ordering one at the market tent tomorrow. Hastings mom and daughter Alyssa Winter and Olivia Seleman are working with a film-set floral designer to help raise money for the Hastings Youth Advocate Program. Corsages are $25 and boutonnieres are $10. You can browse at photo samples at the tent where you can also get your order form.  The corsages (made with roses or orchids will be available for pickup on June 23rd, the day of the prom at the Recreation Center from 12 Noon to 5 p.m.

Don’t forget to park at the train station. But if you can walk or bike to the market – even better. And please be respectful of our neighbors: don’t double park in front of residences on Maple Ave.

Here’s an easy mid-week http://food52.com/recipes/28279-creamy-asparagus-lemon-and-walnut-pastarecipe for creamy spaghetti with asparagus, walnuts and lemon. The market can provide everything but the dried pasta – and lemon.

And in honor of strawberry season try this rhubarb-strawberry compote — perfect to spoon over some Penny Lick Vanilla Ice Cream or Sohha yogurt.

Help make good food affordable to more people; make the market an oasis in a fresh-food desert for SNAP* shoppers. Times are tough, and food stamps usage is up in Westchester. There are no farmers markets that accept food stamps between Mt. Vernon and Ossining. Much of the food sold at the Hastings market qualifies for food stamps. Food-stamps shoppers need more options. The Hastings Farmers market is one such option.

*SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.

Venue: Hastings Farmers Market, Hastings Library Parking Lot, 7 Maple Avenue. Learn more at www.HastingsFarmersMarket.org

See you at the market!

Pascale Le Draoulec is a food writer, a farmer’s market director, as well as the author of”American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Back Roads“, published by Harper Collins.

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